Ushering in 2012, Mike and Jim are out; Thorsten Heins becomes new President and CEO of RIM

POSTED BY: Corey Herscu | Follow Me

January 22, 2025

Before the BlackBerry fan-boys crack open their champagne bottles amidst the news of the corporate shake-up at RIM, we should all stop for a minute and give the boys (Jim and Mike, but from now on I will refer to them as “the boys”) a slow round of applause and pat on their tailored-suited backs for what they have accomplished thus far. Why you may ask? Because aside from the hard-headed narcissism that plagued them this last year, those two knuckle-heads basically re-invented the smartphone, created a product that killed standard text messages, and of course, created a company that put Canada on the map from a technology stand-point - not to mention, created work for thousands of Canadians.

While I do have more to say about this topic and will probably add it tomorrow, for now I am going back to my evening of reflection and look forward to the conference call tomorrow morning.

Check the full press release of the announcement here

BlackBerry, CEO, Jim Balsillie, Mike Lazaridis, RIM, RIMM, Thorsten Heins

Kkritsila

I must respectfully disagree on a number of your points. They are:

1. RIM pretty much invented the smart phone, not re-invented it. They were first, and their only real competitors in the beginning were the Windows CE based devices, which weren’t really all that good. That being said, the problems at RIM started a while ago, not just this year. RIM was slow, very slow, to recognize the iPhone threat, and still, in my mind has yet to provide a truly compelling, or even seriously competitive, alternative (arguable, I knkow). Look how long it took for RIM to come up with a usable web browser.

2. If they “created a product that killed starndard text messages” why is the volume of text messages still increasing? While Blackberry owners may not use standard text messaging when texting other Blackberry owners, they certainly do use standard text messaging when communicating with people who don’t own Blackberry phones. As well, all people who don’t own Blackberry phones are certainly using standard, or MMS, text messaging. Killed standard text messaging? I think not.

3. Until they went bankrupt, the company that was Canada’s high tech leader was Nortel, not RIM. Nortel not only had more Canadian employees, they were both innovators (holding patents in a large number of communications technologies, like fiber optics, wireless, wired broadbanc, as well as fundamental patents in LTE), and had the highest profile worldwide of any Canadian high tech company.

Kostas

http://www.thecellularguru.com/blog TheCellularGuru

Kostas, respect on the comment. Let me explain my points.

1. When I stated that they “re-invented” the smartphone, I meant that they created the user-friendly experience. The CE phones were released clunky and outdated; no one wanted to use them. When RIM launched their 57xx and 67xx series devices, they were ugly, but they worked. Thus ushering in upgrade after upgrade and then subsequently the 7xxx series; their first color screened, Bluetooth enabled device (and quite possibly one of the most popular ever released aside from the 8700).

2. When I stated they “killed standard text”, I meant it. BBM was invented to keep the then exorbitant costs of SMS down between corporate users and also keep their inbox’ scatter-less. Exec’s needed a cost-saving mobile IM solution that was secure and used their data; voila, BBM is born. BBM being born also ushered in Whatsapp, KIK, LiveProfile, and yes, iMEssage etc etc etc. ALL of which are quick, data-using cross-platform (not iMessage) IM solutions made to keep us away from sending text messages (which can get costly). So while yes, people who aren’t on BlackBerry don’t use BBM, go take a look at how many of them are using WhatsApp-like cross platform services. You’ll be surprised at the numbers.

3. I completely agree with your point on Nortel, not arguing it at all. I meant that RIM is one of Canada’s tech darlings and need to be appreciated for what they have done thus far. Nortel and RIM have put Canada on the map, from a tech standpoint.

C

Ushering in 2012, Mike and Jim are out; Thorsten Heins becomes new President and CEO of RIM

POSTED BY: Corey Herscu | Follow Me

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